Formation of a new public body aimed against what it considers “religious coercion” in Israel was announced today by former Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin who urged all political parties to subscribe to principles of religious, cultural and scientific freedom.
The organization, called The Public Committee for the Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture in Israel, is dedicated to fighting “the ever-recurring attempts at religious coercion by those who pretend to be guardians of halacha” (religious law), Yadin said at a press conference here. He said freedom in those spheres must be incorporated into the platforms of all political parties in the upcoming elections.
The new group, composed of prominent Israeli intellectuals, also insisted that the parties pledge to allow their Knesset members to vote their conscience on all religious issues and not be bound by party discipline. He called on the political parties to issue “not merely a declaration of intent” but one that “would also have teeth.”
Yadin, an internationally famous archaeologist, founded the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC) which won 15 Knesset seats in the 1977 elections and later joined the coalition government of Premier Menachem Begin. The party, split by internal dissension, ceased to exist by the time of the 1981 elections.
Yadin said his group was particularly interested in combatting religious pressure on daily life in Israel and ending confrontations with the Orthodox political parties on such issues as archaeological digs. “The State has intervened in areas it should have stayed out of and eroded academic freedom. We view what has been happening with dread,” Yadin said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
